NC Department of Health and Human Services

The state’s infant mortality rate was down slightly in 2016. The state Department of Health and Human Services reports the state infant mortality rate for 2016 was 7.2 deaths per 1000 births, down 1.4 percent from the 2015 rate of 7.3 infant deaths. A press release from the department says the infant mortality rate seems to have plateaued, noting the rate was 7 in 2010, the state’s lowest ever rate. There is a wide disparity in infant mortality among racial groups. White women had an infant mortality rate of 5 in 2016 while the rate for African American women was 13.4 per 1000 births.